dpa
(TNS)
Tokyo — Five people are dead after a large Japan Airlines passenger plane collided with a coastguard aircraft bringing relief supplies to survivors of Japan's earthquake disaster.
The Airbus A350 passenger plane was soon engulfed in flames, but all 379 people on board were able to leave without life-threatening injuries, Japan Airlines (JAL) announced on Tuesday after the crash.
However the deaths of five people on the coastguard plane, which also caught fire, has overshadowed efforts to bring aid to survivors and recover people from rubble in the earthquake aftermath on Japan's west coast.
The reason for the crash, which took place during the passenger jet's landing procedure at Tokyo's Haneda airport, is still unclear. Only the pilot of the Bombardier DHC8-300 coastguard aircraft managed to escape alive, but sustained serious injuries.
The Haneda-based coastguard aircraft was on the runway when it collided with the JAL aircraft at around 5:50 pm ( 0850 GMT), Japanese media reported. All runways at the airport were closed, according to the Transport Ministry.
Japanese TV stations then turned from showing footage of devastation on the west coast, where 48 people had died, to showing live images of the passenger plane going up in flames at Toyko airport.
Footage from broadcaster TBS showed the passengers of the commercial aircraft leaving on an emergency slide while firefighters battled flames.
Everything began to shake and the lights went out, according to eyewitnesses. "It was like a horror story," Swedish passenger Anton Deibe told Swedish radio station SVT after the evacuation. The 17-year-old was sitting next to his sister behind the burning wing when panic broke out on board, he said.
A 33-year-old Japanese man told the newspaper Asahi Shimbun that orange flames were shooting out of the window while the cabin filled with smoke.
He, like many others on board, was on his way back from New Year's Eve celebrations, and had been with his wife and 2-year-old daughter at his in-laws on Hokkaido. "Please stay calm. Please don't take your luggage," was the on-board announcement, the Japanese man said.
While firefighters extinguished the huge fire next to one of the destroyed engines and high flames rose from the aircraft's windows, the passengers left the aircraft via an emergency slide. Among those who escaped were eight small children and 17 people on board suffered injuries.
The crash comes after at least 48 people were killed and 137 injured in a particularly violent 7.6-magnitude quake on New Year's Day, according to the latest toll reported by the Mainichi Shimbun newspaper.
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